1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a film cartridge with an IC memory, an apparatus that uses it, and a method of using it, and more particularly to a film cartridge with an IC memory, an apparatus that uses the film cartridge with the IC memory such as a camera, a photofinishing apparatus and a film image reproducing apparatus, and a method of using the film cartridge with the IC memory including a procedure for reading information from the IC memory.
2. Description of Related Art
There has been proposed an advanced photographic film in which a magnetic layer is formed on one side of a silver halide film (U.S. Pat. No. 5,130,745). A film cartridge for containing the film and a camera that uses the film cartridge have also been developed, and they have become standardized worldwide.
As shown in FIGS. 19(A) and 19(B), in the above-mentioned new standard film cartridge 100, a continuous photographic film 103 is wound on a spool 102 and is contained in a substantially cylindrical cartridge shell 101, which has a light-shielding structure. A light-shielding door 104 is provided at one end of the cartridge shell 101. The film 103 is entirely contained in the cartridge shell 101 and the light-shielding door 104 protects the film 103 from external light, if the film cartridge 100 containing the unexposed film has not been loaded in the camera yet or when the film cartridge 100 containing the exposed film is out of the camera. The light-shielding door 104 is opened and closed by inserting a door driver (not shown) into a door driving hole 106 and rotating the door driver.
A data disk 105 is provided at one side (a reference side) of the cartridge shell 101, and the data disk 105 rotates in association with the spool 102. A bar code indicating film information such as type, sensitivity and a number of frames to be exposed of the film 103 is printed on the outer surface of the data disk 105. Circular, square, X and semicircular holes 111, 112, 113 and 114 are punched at the other side of the cartridge shell 101. A white sectorial piece (not shown) is provided at the back of the holes and is fixed to the spool 102, and one of the circular, square, X and semicircular marks is shown in white in accordance with a position of the sectorial piece.
In the film 103, a silver halide photosensitive layer is formed on a surface 103F of a film base, and a magnetic recording layer is formed on the reverse surface 103R of the film base. A plurality of perforations 121 are punched at the edge of the film 103, and they specify each frame 120. Exposure information such as the type of a light source and a focal length on the exposure, and a user's message such as a title of a photograph can be magnetically recorded in magnetic record areas 124, 125 at the top end and bottom end of each frame.
When the film cartridge 100 is loaded in the camera, the camera reads the bar code information on the data disk 105 with an optical reading mechanism, and detects the position of the sectorial piece, thereby automatically recognizing the film information and the used status of the film. If the camera recognizes that the film cartridge 100 contains a film in which at least one unexposed frame remains, the light-shielding door 104 is opened and the spool 102 is rotated in a predetermined direction, so that the film 103 can be automatically fed to the first unexposed frame.
After all the frames on the film 103 are exposed, a rewinding mechanism of the camera rewinds film 103 into the cartridge shell 101, and the light-shielding door 104 is closed. Then, the sectorial piece that is fixed to the spool 102 is stopped at the X hole, so that the X hole is shown in white to indicate that the film cartridge 100 contains the film 103 on which all the frames have already been exposed.
There has been proposed a film image reproducing apparatus using the film cartridge 100 containing the film 103 that is developed. The film image reproducing apparatus automatically transports the film 103 from the film cartridge 100, and reads the frame image using an image pickup unit. The film image reproducing apparatus is then able to output image signals representing the read frame image to a TV monitor and/or a personal computer.
In the apparatus such as the camera and the film image reproducing apparatus that use the film cartridge 100, there is provided in a cartridge loading chamber a spool drive shaft and a door driver, which are inserted into the spool 102 and the door driving hole 106, respectively, of the film cartridge 100. Guide shafts that are inserted into the spool 102 and the door driving hole 106, respectively, are provided on the inside face of a chamber door on the cartridge loading chamber. When the film 103 is transported, the spool 102 and the door driving hole 106 are pivotally supported by the spool drive shaft, the door driver and the guide shafts in such a manner as to prevent the cartridge shell 101 from being in contact with the inner wall of the cartridge loading chamber. Thereby, the cartridge shell 101 is able to float (this will hereinafter be referred to as a shell floating state).
Since the spool 102 is rotatably arranged with play in the cartridge shell 101, the cartridge shell 101 has freedom in the shell floating state. This prevents the film 103 from being damaged by the cartridge shell 101 while the film 103 is transported.
The applicant of the present invention has proposed a film cartridge provided with an IC memory unit (Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 7-287323). Since terminals of the IC memory unit are provided on a cartridge shell of the film cartridge, positions of the terminals cannot be fixed during the shell-floating. Thus, a contact area of each terminal on the cartridge shell must be large enough so that the terminal comes into contact with each of the contacts on the cartridge loading chamber without fail in view of the movement amount of the cartridge shell while the shell is floating. In this case, it is impossible to provide a plurality of terminals on the limited surface area of the cartridge shell.
The terminals on the cartridge shell are arranged on a side that is perpendicular to a direction in which the cartridge is loaded in the cartridge loading chamber. For this reason, the loading of the film cartridge into the cartridge loading chamber does not cause the contacts on the cartridge loading chamber to rub the terminals on the cartridge shell. Hence, a reliable electrical connection between the contacts. On the cartridge loading chamber and the terminals on the cartridge shell may become impossible due to corrosion on the terminals, the adhesion of dust, or the like.